


All Together

by magalix3



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Friendship, Gen, blink and you'll miss it jackbum, sorry jinyoungie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8203291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magalix3/pseuds/magalix3
Summary: After losing his Thai gang and watching Mark get beat up, Bambam quickly rearranges his attitude. (Because that contact lens commercial killed me.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mayora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayora/gifts).



He looks different. He keeps telling himself he feels different until he can _feel_ it -- or thinks he can. It’s only been two days since his “transformation.” Removing his glasses and pushing his bangs out of his face doesn’t have the same effect it did on his heart as it did his appearance. The girls noticed and eye him as he walks by. The boys eye him, too, but it’s a little less flattering. He has to keep reminding himself to push his shoulders back and keep his chin up.

Bambam’s without his Thai gang now, Jinyoung is… not a friend, and Mark is a friend. Well, hopefully. Hopefully Mark can be a friend.

Mark comes back to school a few days after the incident, lip busted and right eye black and blue. Bambam walked by him in the hallway the first day but lost all confidence when Mark wandered past him, head down and bangs covering his eyes. He weaved expertly through the other students and Bambam watched him move around the corner, standing still in the middle of the hallway feeling awful. Feeling like he might as well have been the one to give Mark that limp.

Either Mark is purposely ignoring him, the avoidance stemming from either shame or betrayal, take your pick, or he genuinely isn’t paying attention. Their paths cross only twice throughout a whole school day and Mark never once notices Bambam and his leather jacket. The Thai boy feels like a liar in his leather jacket.

Bambam can’t find Mark in the lunchroom during lunch hour until a few days later, with a flyer stuffed in his backpocket and determination in his step, he finds Mark in a classroom chatting with a concerned teacher.

Their gazes met for the first time in days and Mark immediately pulls up all his defenses, turning back to the teacher. A few parts of Bambam’s new image is confidence, ambition and self-assurance, so he tries not to think about thinking and marches straight up to the exchange student’s side and grabs him by the wrist. The teacher scowls at the contact between the two students and turns towards the one that initiated the unwarranted touch.

“Excuse me, I’m having a conversation with Tuan-sshi. It’s rude to interrupt.”

Whatever it is that Bambam’s trying to tell with his gaze, Mark isn’t trying to listen to it. 

“Yeah, I have to --”

“Come with me.” Bambam says, his skull feeling tight, pressured, like it were stuffed with cotton balls or something. 

“His studies are far more important than whatever you need, son.” The teacher says, frowning deeper. 

“But it’s about his studies. I need a, um, I need a study buddy.” Lying to teachers comes with the new image, too.

And with that the teacher’s expression softens, turning to the American student. “This is _exactly_ what you need. Someone to help you focus.”

Mark can’t object, probably doesn’t know how to object, but the younger student wins the argument in the end and Mark ends up in the bathroom down the hall.

“What do you want?”

Bambam can feel the apprehension in his gut, weighing him down. He quickly tries to think; what would the _new_ Bambam do? How would the _new_ Bambam handle this situation? And it turns out he doesn’t really know the new Bambam, just the old one. The one that’s trying to hide behind hairgel, a leather jacket and expensive Doc Martins that his mom will have his head for when she finds out he spend his earnings on them instead of food.

As Mark glares at him, the only emotion filtering through being annoyance, Bambam feels himself shrinking. How does he tell Mark that he wants to be there for him? That he thinks of him as a friend?

Bambam reaches into his pocket, heart shrinking when Mark takes a tentative step back. He doesn’t relax as Bambam holds out a bandage, ushering him to take it. So the Thai boy steps forward and takes the other boy’s scuffed hand, removing the bandage and placing it over the healing scrape wounds on his palm. It’s supposed to be a heartfelt moment full of mirrored symbolism and gratefulness, in a dirty school bathroom.

“I’m sorry.”

Mark looks up at him, still unmoving.

“I’m so sorry, hyung, there was nothing I could do.” About that time under the bridge, when Jinyoung bared his soul as something burdened and misunderstood, when his true nature gleamed through as he laughed as Mark was punished by the rest of the gang. Jinyoung may think that he and Nerdy Bambam have formed some type of truce, but Bad Ass Bambam still avoids him like the plague. Luckily, Jinyoung hasn’t come searching for him yet.

Mark’s quiet for so long, time ticking in their ears. He looks gone, gone to some other place in the recesses of his mind where Bambam would never find him. He stands his ground until his hyung makes a decision, his expression concealed until the end, even as he speaks,

“It’s okay. I understand.”

Those are the only words Bambam needs to feel like he’s floating, a weight removed from his shoulders. But it’s not enough for Mark to know how genuinely grateful yet remorseful he feels.

In hopes to try and get that message going, Bambam pulls out a flyer that’s crinkled in his back pocket. “Do you want to do this with me, hyung?”

Mark takes the paper and smooths it out between his fingers. It’s a karate class that meets three times a week in the very, _very_ early morning before classes start. 

“I thought that we should get some practice, y’know, like --”

“Sure.” Mark says, retreating back into the secretive corners of mind. “Yeah, I’d like to do this.”

Bambam grins and takes the flyer, fingers curling around the other male’s palm. Mark looks up at him but doesn’t say anything. Bambam’s smile makes him smile, too.

“That’s _great_ , let’s go together today to sign up! Oh, hyung, this is gonna be awesome!”

~

Bambam, as he slumps against Mark on the city bus, sweaty and even more exhausted than he was at 4:30am when he got up to get going to the karate class, quietly apologises.

“I’d understand if you never wanted to do this again.”

Mark chuckles through his nose, tired and without much gumption, “No, this is fine.”

 

The bus driver recognises their school uniforms and has to wake them up when it’s their stop. Mark and Bambam make a beeline for the gymnasium and manage to sneak into the locker rooms to take quick showers, sharing the travel size shampoo and conditioners that Mark bought for this very occasion. 

Their paths cross only twice throughout the day, but as they walk past each other they smile and Mark’s looking less and less exhausted as the week goes on.

~

Bad Ass Bambam still ignores Jinyoung in a way that a rabbit that would hide from a fox. But he thinks that if he and that fox crossed paths again, he’d be ready. His legs are wobbly from karate practice and his bangs, unstyled and unruly, keep curling and poking his eye. He and Mark are in the bathroom between classes, trying to get some gel into their damp hair. 

“I feel so awake now, so focused.” Bambam says, slicking his hair back. Mark laughs at the greasy look it leaves behind and the younger frowns at his reflection.

“I feel it, too.” Mark agrees, using much less gel on his own hair, pulling his bangs over his forehead. “I still fell asleep on my Calculus homework, though.”

“I have that next year.” Bambam says, now using water to try and get some of the globs of gel out of his hair. “I hate math.”

“I’m good at it, I can help you out when you get there.” Mark says, pulling his backpack over his shoulders. Bambam smiles at him and realises that this must be what it’s like to have a best friend. Someone you can take 5am karate classes with. Someone who will risk getting in trouble by administration to take a shower in the locker room in the early mornings. Someone who makes plans with you for something a year in advance.

Mark pats his friends’ shoulder and takes away the gel. “See you at lunch.”

 

When lunchtime comes around, Bambam spots Mark from across the cafeteria and grins and waves. Mark grins back and plops into the seat next to him and they talk about nothing and everything. They mention their families back at home, until Mark’s stopping mid sentence and staring over his friend’s shoulder, completely derailing their conversation about their mom’s cokking versus American school cafeteria food verses Thai cafeteria food versus South Korean cafeteria food.

It’s Jinyoung causing a scene, squaring off to a freshman that had bumped into him. There seems to be no harm no foul, the freshman seems to have kept all his food on his tray, nothing looks spilled, maybe Jinyong’ ego, but neither Mark or Bambam can spot a launching point for Jinyonug’s frustration. Not that he’s ever needed one, really.

The cafeteria is silent at this point, everyone staring as Jinyoung blames the boy for scuffing his new Nike’s.

Bambam exchanges glances with his friend. Do they get up? They haven’t been training nearly long enough to be able to throw a well-measured punch, they also don’t want to risk getting expelled. Just as they’re trying to make a decision, weighing out their options as the scene unfolds before them, a middle classman steps in between.

“Hey, man, it’s okay, you’re fine.” 

Jinyoung glares at the other student and he steps back.

“Do you know how _expensive_ these are?” Jinyoung growls.

Bambam gets up before he’s consciously making a decision. He walks up to Jinyoung, squeezing himself between stunned classmate and bully. “It’ll wipe off. It’s not a big deal.”

There’s a moment where Jinyoung’s gaze falters, like he might go soft and let it go. He had shown Bambam a piece of his heart and thought maybe they were friends. But the Thai boy is clearly rejecting his friendship offer. When Jinyoung laughs, long and crazy, Mark’s shoulder bumps against Bambam’s. Bambam is small, small arms, legs, chest, everything is small, and Mark’s got some height and weight on him in comparison but Mark’s a small guy, too. They’re not very intimidating. Jinyoung’s small himself, but he clearly works out and the gang behind him are tall and muscular and they could beat up Mark and Bambam without even straining themselves. And we know this. They’ve done it before.

But Jinyoung smirks at the show of bravery and backs off. His eyes gleam and Mark and Bambam know they’re going to have to watch their backs. The gang of bullies like to play dirty.

Chatter washes back over the sea of students as Jinyoung exits and Bambam and Mark turn back to their classmates.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Bambam asks as the upperclassman takes the tray from the freshman’s shaky fingers.

“Yeah, we’re good.” The boy has a round face and soulful eyes. “I’m Choi Youngjae and this is Kim Yugyeom. Thank you, you guys were awesome.”

“Come sit with us.” Mark offers to take the tray and leads them back to their table. 

~

Their friendship really takes off when Bambam’s grades in Korean class don’t elevate the way they should. When Mark shuts down mid-sentence because he’s confused. Youngjae frowns at the grades after seeing them. Yugyeom isn’t sure whether or not to correct their grammar mistakes. Youngjae finds the solution and offers Korean classes at his house.

The four of them sit in Youngjae’s room talking about the movie posters on his wall and the video games on the shelf. They end up playing more games than doing any actual studying. It’s a casual setting, there’s no pressure like in the classroom to get things right so Mark’s free to ask questions and Yugyeom’s free to answer them. Bambam’s free to stumble over pronunciation, Youngjae nudging him in the right direction.

Their first night at Youngjae’s is the night before martial arts classes so Bambam and Mark call it quits early. Mark’s home is on the way, and he awkwardly invites Bambam in. If they’re going to be up at the buttcrack of dawn together, why not just spend the night?

What was originally expected to be awkward ends up being wonderful. They stumble over a Korean literature book, Bambam mixes in his limited English vocabulary and Mark laughs until his sides hurt. They fall asleep on the couch together.

Mark’s forgiven Bambam for chickening out that day under the bridge. And Bambam’s forgiven himself. He can’t believe the friendship that has come out of it.

~

When Mark manages to do a flip in karate class, Bambam howls victoriously and attaches onto the older male, exaggeratingly celebrating. It’s exactly what Mark needs. When Bambam’s Korean pronunciation gets better, Youngjae claps him on the back and grins. When Mark needs some downtime, he and Yugyeom go out to eat.

When Mark and Bambam spot Jinyoung teasing a transfer student, they find that the courage in each other fuels the courage within themselves.

Jinyoung’s been surprisingly awol from their lives. Ever since he noticed that they could stand up for themselves he’s pretty much backed off. It’s much easier to pick on weak prey. So he’s chosen the new guy that speaks confused Korean and knows no one. 

Bambam gets between them and Mark gingerly places a hand on the Chinese exchange student’s shoulder. His wide eyes shift from Mark to Bambam to Jinyoung. If only he knew how lucky he was to have this saving grace during Jinyoung’s very first attack.

Mark misses most of the conversation, checking to make sure the student’s shoulder is alright, if he needs a nurse. It was the sound of a body hitting metal lockers that had caught everyone’s attention in the first place. So just as Mark’s turning, squaring up to Jinyoung and his pack, standing shoulder to shoulder with Bambam, Jinyoung says some shit that confuses him but makes Bambam’s blood boil.

“I can’t believe you’re protecting someone like him.”

“A foreigner?” Is Mark’s confused reply because, um, _hello_ , he and Bambam aren’t from South Korea either.

“That’s why you’re doing this?” Bambam’s seething, looking more and more like the Badass Bambam he’s trying to be. “You’re such a _child_.”

Mark’s thoroughly confused, staring between his two classmates. He holds his ground even as a look of murder passes over Jinyoung’s features. Everyone knows better than to take him lightly.

“What’d you say?”

“You’re a child. What’s wrong with you? Why do you want to scare people?”

Jinyoung’s shoulder tense, his footing shifts, but Bambam moves much, much faster. Anger fuels him and before Mark can do anything, Bambam’s fist meets Jinyoung’s nose with a sickening crack. He can feel the shift of bone underneath his knuckles.

And holy shit does it feel _good_.

This is definitely a turning point for Badass Bambam.

The exchange student gasps behind them, probably cursing in Chinese, and Jinyoung stumbles into his surprised goons. While Bambam’s basking in the _glorious_ feeling of victory, Mark grabs for him and the exchange student before fucking bolting from the scene. Youngjae meets them at the end of the hallway yelling in shock and Yugyeom is high fiving and congratulating their victor.

They pile into a bathroom and Mark’s too excited to process his words so he’s speaking a confusing mix of English and Korean, mostly English. Youngjae’s freaking out; Bambam’s _so_ gonna get in trouble. Yugyeom wants to join their karate class because holy hell what a badass his hyung is.

Then Bambam turns to the exchange student, the poor guy still stunned, and asks if he’s okay.

“Um, I’m -- yeah, I’m fine.” 

He has a hard time with word order, but manages to tell Bambam that he’s extremely grateful and pretty much owes him his life. Normally this would seem like a gloating moment, but Bambam’s feeling accomplished instead of superior. He’s feeling good on the inside because let’s be real, Jinyoung deserved it.

The exchange student is from Hong Kong, and his name is Jackson Wang. And Youngjae invites him to Korean class at his house, Tuesdays and Thursdays at seven. Then Mark tells him that Youngjae’s Korean class is a joke, but he’s more than welcome to come and play video games and then do some serious studying at Mark’s place afterwards.

Jackson grins and counts his lucky stars. “That’d be awesome, thanks, guys.”

~

Their karate teacher is Im Jaebum, a young guy that’s around their age, looks intimidating until he smiles, and really gets the class to push their limits. But when class is at five in the morning, their limits aren’t very far away. He gets frustrated, but is sweetly understanding.

Until Mark and Bambam stumble into class one morning and he’s standing in the doorway, arms crossed and expression set firmer than they’ve ever seen before. He looks like an older brother about to scold his younger siblings and Mark and Bambam immediately shrink.

“My sister goes to your school and she told me what happened.” 

Mark glances at Bambam.

“She showed me the video.”

“There’s a _video_?!” Bambam’s too excited too quickly and Mark swiftly elbows him, getting him to act shameful. “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“We aren’t trying to… um,” Mark’s Korean falters and he mumbles to himself in English, then tries to continue. “We aren’t taking this class to hurt people. We were… being hurt. We want to protect ourselves.” And it sounds kind of lame but it gets the point across.

Jaebum’s shoulders drop, his expression softens. “I’ve heard of Jinyoung, I had no idea you guys were being bullied. But it makes sense, not a lot of kids are willing to get up this early for a karate class.”

Mark lowers his head. “You’re not kicking us out, are you?”

“No, no of course not. I just wanted to get the story straight.” Jaebum smiles and leads them into the dojo. “Why was that guy being bullied?”

“Jackson?” Bambam hops excitedly behind their karate teacher. “He’s only been here a week but there’s a rumor that he likes guys. Jinyoung picked on him for it, but we don’t even know if it’s true.”

Jaebum’s eyebrow arch prettily. “I’m glad to hear you stood up for him, but you should never strike first.”

“But Jinyoung made the first move.” Mark interjects.

Jaebum nods, he saw the video. “Didn’t I teach you how to block?”

~~

Bambam invites Jaebum to Youngjae’s Korean class.

(“I’m… Korean.” Jaebum breaks it to his student carefully, and Mark laughs.

“I know! We don’t actually study we play video games.”

Jaebum smiles, he’s stupidly attractive, and agrees to hang out.)

Hanging out with a karate teacher incidentally means karate lessons. Yugyeom gets his ass beat but it only makes him more determined. And Jackson surprises everyone by surprising the teacher and knocking him on his back. No one’s too sure how he did it, even Jaebum lies on the floor, silent in shock. At first Jackson plays victor, he’s been studying fencing most his life and has some background in self-defense. But then he’s quickly dropping that act and rushing to his hyung’s side.

Jackson helps Jaebum up, hands hovering, and apologises a hundred times in three different languages and Mark’s interrupting excitedly, speaking in a tongue only the two of them understand, “Oh, my God, you speak English?”

Youngjae, from the sidelines, introduces himself in heavily accented Younglish. Bambam and Yugyeom indulge him and laugh along.

Jackson grins, his smile blinding. Mark’s already surprised him with basic Cantonese, since he’s Taiwanese and grew up speaking some in his home in the States, and now they’re speaking a same third language and Mark’s pouring over with elation.

“Holy shit, where’d you learn English? It’s like, perfect. And if you can fight why’d you let Jinyoung push you into the lockers?”

“I went to an International School in Hong Kong. And because I don’t want to start shit on my first week! I know what people are saying, but what good would it do if I started punching people?” Jackson says, and Jaebum’s still at his side but he’s been removed from the bubble, albeit Jackson’s hand wrapped around his palm. He watches, amused, as the two excitedly go off in a tangent he can’t understand. He’s wondering why it clearly hasn’t come up yet that Mark’s an American, it’s easy to tell he’s still learning Korean as he speaks, but assumes the two haven’t interacted much since the incident a few days ago. Which is a spot on assumption, and now Jackson’s asking about LA and they’re making promises to travel to each other’s homes for the holidays. In this moment, they’re seemingly empty promises. But it’s a chance all six of them will get in the future, this is a friendship that’ll last forever, they just don’t know it yet.

Later that night as Jaebum, Youngjae, Mark and Jackson talk and laugh between themselves, Bambam and Yugyeom are huddled over a history textbook. Bambam’s reading the text outloud, simultaneously studying for his upcoming exam and working on some new words. He’s so focused that he doesn’t notice Mark and Youngjae cross the room to be by his side, leaving Jaebum and Jackson to talk between themselves. Bambam assumes they’re talking about how weird this group is, Lovingly, of course, they’ve all clicked perfectly. 

Mark slips an arm through Bambam’s elbow and leans against him, following the younger student’s gaze on the paper.

The Thai boy tips his head to the side and rests his dark hair against Mark’s lighter tufts of hair. Yugyeom smiles at them, Bambam pulls his classmates long legs over his lap. 

Eventually the others huddle around them, the three exchange students taking turn reading aloud a paragraph each as they work through the text. Mark stays leaning against Bambam, comfortably curled against his best friend. 

Bambam’s never been happier with his decision to study abroad. He can’t take on the world, exactly, but he feels like all together, they can. And they will.

**Author's Note:**

> this wouldn't have happened without julie. ily.
> 
>  
> 
> & shoutout to jinyoung bc his acting in his commercial was a+


End file.
